Tyler Steele
Tyler Reginald Steele is a native of the Hillsbrad Foothills who currently lives in Stormwind City. For most of is adult life, Tyler has been circulating around the criminal underground while also assisting his father in his less-than-savory endeavors. Tyler is a hostile, often senseless, violent individual who has won both the notoriety and heart of Stormwind's lower class. Often called "Devilchaser" in the Foothills, Steele is known his incredibly skillful target-hunting, which has lead him to pursue Alliance, Horde and even supernatural victims. =Description= ---- Tyler could be described as a man at peak physical fitness. Through conditioning, both professional and self-instituted, Tyler turned his body into a living weapon. From his arms, which had enough solid girth to display the man's raw power, to his legs, which were toned and battle-hardened from days of pursuing targets in plate armor. His chest was always bare of hair, only to display his myriad of tattoos and branding marks. On his right shoulder, a serpent creeps onto his collar bone. Over his heart, a shackled succubus. His face was never resolved: his expression was always smoldering, even during the happiest of times. He could often be found staring off, contemplating. =History= ---- Origins Little is known about Tyler Steele's original parents. Tyler spent most of his childhood in the circuit of orphanages and foster establishments in Stormwind City. Known for being viciously hostile, he was isolated from his peers; when he was fourteen, he was incarcerated for attempting to shiv his matron to death—after a two hour stakeout, in which Tyler had locked himself in the cellar with the wounded matron, he was successfully caught and hauled into the Stockades. He would spend the next five years in and out of the Alliance prison system, with major time served in both Stormwind City and Ironforge. Life in and Out of Prison Tyler spent two years in prison for the attack on his matron, but to him, his imprisonment was the greatest freedom he was ever afforded. Prison played by Tyler's rules: the cruel survived, and the civilized were minced meat that the scum of the prison fed on. Within his first few weeks of incarceration, he was already recruited to a small group of foreign criminals—most of which were smugglers from Hillsbrad, but their organization was allegedly much larger outside the prison system. Their eyepatch-wearing leader, they promised, was going to be the next ruler of the Foothills. Earnestly, Tyler followed their every command in order to strike up rank with their cause. He brutalized, killed, and blackmailed both prisoners and guards alike, and when he finished his time in the stockades, Tyler already had a reputation in Stormwind. Notorious for his habit in prison of biting other prisoners during an altercation and spitting their blood back at them, Tyler began taking contracts under a pseudonym, the Blood Drinker. If the murder business was anything like archeology, Tyler would be the Harrison Jones of homocide. In a matter of six months, 15 homocides were linked to a single killer, one who always left a tree spile lodged in the person's throat; if the body was found quick enough, blood would still be spurting from the tree-tapping device. Eventually, the Colonel of the Stormwind Guard, a man named Alndar, connected Tyler to every single one of the murders. After catching him in the act, his room at the Pig n' Whistle was raided, leading to the discovery of his contracts and personal memerobilia, which including the jewelry, hair and sometimes pieces of clothing from his victims. Without resistance, he was ambushed at the Westbrook Crossing, which leads into Westfall. He spent three years in a dwarven jail with his wrists, ankles, waist and neck shackled to the wall behind him. Stormwind legislators forbade his time to be served in the city, as he was familiar with the environment, and could easily continue his killing spree. In Ironforge, he was force fed once a day, and after biting a finger off a guard, was left to starve often, for days at a time. In his bound isolation, Tyler's psyche began to succumb to its natural weaknesses, and after time, his afflicted condition only worsened. His mind was dampened by a lonely insanity, in which he pondered being left for dead by his beloved Darkpore, the organization he met during his first visit to jail. Soon, the large young man began to wither away physically. His ribs were frail, frame wilted like a dying flower. His hair was long and matted with dirt, head hanging low—that is, until he was forced awake one night by a noise. Darkpore had breached a wall in the jail, overpowered the guards, and freed Tyler, who was a shadow of his former self. Broken and hazy, he was transported to Hillsbrad by ship to meet the man responsible for his rescue. Military and Company Service After a long stint in the Sanguine Syndicate, Tyler had discovered that his partners were planning to kill him, as they were concerned that he'd do the same to them, given enough time. He signed a contract with the Stormwind Guard, offering to work exclusively in counter-syndicate efforts in exchange for a clean record. With a sawed-off and his uniform, Tyler helped the guard put a severe dent in the syndicate's deliberations. Although he was considered a choice pick for combat, Tyler was recognized as volatile and dangerous to operate around. After a month of serving the guard, he was transferred into a unit that could more easily reign him in, a group called the Valiant Coalition. Led by Eliorah Morrison, the unit was known for doing things most law enforcement or peace-seeking organizations would not. Tyler quickly propelled himself through the ranks, counting on his target-seeking skills to take out key adversaries of Stormwind's legal sector. Paramilitary Service Tyler's position in Eliorah's organization was quickly elevated as he took on the role of her personal internal police. Using tactics of fear-mongering and brutal capital punishment, Tyler had made significant reform to the Valiant Coalition's structure. He was hated by most and loved by few, but when Eliorah had fled Stormwind following a controversy, Tyler was invited to take part in a program endorsed by SI:7, which was later known as the Shadowtalon Company. Working alongside his father, who chaired the company as its political chief, Tyler was as vicious as ever in his pursuits. Being an espionage organization, the list of people Tyler had to kill was satisfyingly long, and Tyler often found himself killing targets in public places, centers of worship and at the frequent cost of civilian casualties. Shortly after a near-failed assassination in Gadgetzan, he was relieved of his duties by Marshal Ravenwing. Months had passed, and Tyler lived off of target contracts from Stormwind's underbelly. One day, a death knight approached Tyler with the possibility of raising a powerful military for northern nobility. He was surprised and refreshed to hear about potential work in the Foothills, and quickly accepted the long-term contract. Months would pass, and Tyler would later see himself as the leader of the legionnaires that fought for House Arturia, leading him into countless expeditions against the forsaken. Rise to Power in the Foothills Moving to Durnholde was the greatest power move Tyler could have ever made. His professional duties placing him in close proximity to his home meant rekindling his reputation with his people and forming good rapport with Nevahris' chief military officers; rumors circulated throughout the Confederacy that both the military council and Tyler collaborated in both killing Lord Galmone Smith and covering up the murder. By all accounts, it seems as though he maintains somewhat of the same government as Galmone. = Subsequent Fall After his Lord Father's appointment as Lord High Exchequer, he returned to the Foothills to engage his son in war, quickly succeeding in overwhelming his forces overnight with the aid of prior and current Duchess Falcko Arturia and her bannermen. Fearing extradition to Stormwind, Tyler fled into hiding until a statute of limitations threatening his freedom had passed. Tyler resurfaced a disgraced Lord of the Foothills and no longer Duke of Durnholde. His wife, by all accounts, was dead. The Prince of Blood Money Tyler left the Foothills with nothing but his expertise and name, which was riddled with violence and contempt. Once in Stormwind, Tyler returned to a quiet minority of supporters and patrons where he began to plot his return to his homeland, right under the nose of his Lord Father, who held office in the same city. While not hiding from the law per se, Tyler never walked around as comfortably as he used to and never showed his face in broad daylight--that, however, did not stop him from simply putting a mask on. In fact, Tyler found himself a man with expensive tastes and little coin. Without the patronage of his Lord Father, Tyler leaned on what he knew best to gain an immense amount of capital: contract killing and training both paramilitary and guerrilla forces. His clients are unknown, and to present, the only men who know of his resurgence in political affairs were the ones who he would send to Kalimdor on ships, in body bags. Category:Characters Category:Alliance Military Category:War Criminals Category:Stormwindian Category:Lordaeronian